The Bear Mountain Bridge Has a New Name Now, Too

Cuomo signed the bill into effect after it passed state legislature in June.

By Jonathan Ortiz

Published: 10/04/2018

Mwanner | Wikimedia Commons

As we’re sure everybody was eagerly awaiting, it turns out another Hudson Valley bridge is getting a new name. Signed into effect by Cuomo on Tuesday, October 2, the Bear Mountain has been renamed the Purple Heart Veterans Memorial Bridge.

"There are an estimated 1.8 million Purple Heart recipients across our great nation,” Sen. Bill Larkin, R-New Windsor, Orange County, said when the bill passed.

The bill that ushers in the new name for the 2,255-foot-long bridge that connects Rockland and Orange counties on the west of the Hudson to Putnam and Westchester on the east passed state legislature in June and was tied in part to the name change of the Tappan Zee Bridge to the south.

It turns out that in May 2017 the state Senate passed a bill to name the new Tappan Zee Bridge the "Purple Heart Memorial Bridge." Shortly after the bill passed, however, Cuomo began his effort to name the bridge after his late father, a former New York governor.

When that new title for the Tappan Zee was set in stone, the Senate went back and voted to change the name of the Bear Mountain Bridge to honor Purple Heart recipients, thereby creating the Purple Heart Memorial Bridge.

Westchester-based assemblywoman Sandra Galef says of the new bridge name, “As motorists and pedestrians cross the Hudson River over this bridge, they will be reminded of the sacrifices that have been made by our military."